Closing Time
by MendaciousMinx
Summary: The time has come to leave Hogwarts. Harry doesn't know if he can do it alone, but with the help of his friends maybe he can leave the past behind him and make his way toward a brighter future. For anyone who has ever been afraid to move on.


**A/N: **This story is dedicated to several close friends of mine who are graduating this year. You made my college experience magical, and I know that wherever you go you will bring others the same happiness you brought me.

**Disclaimer: **The song Closing Time is the property of Semisonic. Harry Potter is the property of J.K. Rowling.

* * *

><p>It was finally time.<p>

Harry had watched the others leave first. They had trailed out one by one and in groups, slowly filing through the doors of the Great Hall and out of the castle. The battle had been terrible, and everyone was exhausted. But now it was time to go home.

_Closing time - time for you to go out, go out into the world.  
>Closing time - turn the lights up over every boy and every girl.<br>Closing time - one last call for alcohol, so finish your whiskey or beer.  
>Closing time - you don't have to go home but you can't stay here.<em>

As the last of the students-turned-warriors exited—limping slightly from a wound on her leg—Harry stood up. He turned to look around the room. Mismatched dishes still sat out, with whatever leftovers had been found in the kitchen to feed the hungry victors. A few lay broken on the floor. On the walls, the tapestries hung by the Death Eaters had been torn to shreds. Their depictions of muggles in subservience to magic lay in tatters, and behind them were the faded colors of the four houses.

_I know who I want to take me home.  
>I know who I want to take me home.<br>I know who I want to take me home.  
>Take me home...<em>

He looked to the front of the room. The four enormous hourglasses still hung there, presiding over the empty room like forgotten kings. The Gryffindor glass had been broken—by an errant spell or a Death Eater's order, Harry didn't know. Its red sand had been spilled across the floor of the Great Hall like blood.

It would be repaired, he had no doubt. And no one who looked at it would be able to tell it had ever been broken. Except those who already knew. To them it would remain shattered in their memory, time bleeding on the stones, all their stolen years.

_Closing time - time for you to go back to the places you will be from.  
>Closing time - this room won't be open 'til your brothers or your sisters<br>come._

Harry averted his gaze from the disquieting sight. He picked up what few belongings he had, turned toward the doors—

And froze.

_So gather up your jackets, and move it to the exits - I hope you have found…_

He couldn't do it. He couldn't leave. This was his home, his only home, this was all he had—

_A…_

"Harry."

_Friend._

And then they were there. Beside him. Ron threw an arm around his shoulders. "Didn't think we'd leave you here all by yourself, did you mate?"

Hermione smiled up at him. "After all, we walked in through those doors together."

_Closing time - every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end._

"It seemed only right we should leave the same way."

_Yeah, I know who I want to take me home.  
>I know who I want to take me home.<br>I know who I want to take me home.  
>Take me home...<em>

Harry offered them a shaky smile. "Thanks," he said quietly, the tension leaving his frame. "You're right."

As one, they faced the doors of the Great Hall. They were huge. Heavy. Made from the wood of a single, enormous tree. They were designed to keep the world out.

He knew this wouldn't be the last time he came here. Hogwarts was a part of him, like the blood in his veins, but he couldn't help feeling that once those doors closed behind him this Hogwarts would be gone forever. When he returned, they would open on another school, different students, new teachers. A strange new world in which he was only a visitor, no longer a denizen.

_Closing time - time for you to go back to the places you will be from..._

Ron's arm tightened around his shoulders. "You all right, mate?"

Harry stared around the room one last time. His eyes lingered on the Gryffindor table, and for a moment he could almost hear three children laughing…

"Yeah," he said after a moment's pause. "Yeah, I am."

_I know who I want to take me home._  
><em>I know who I want to take me home.<em>  
><em>I know who I want to take me home.<em>  
><em>Take me home...<em>

Side-by-side, they walked out into the world.

_Closing time - every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end..._


End file.
